Wednesday, May 20, 2015

I have a funny, funny team here in Czechland. I came in to the office today and these little flyers were posted at every desk.

This is because I'm always telling the Czechs to speak English. And the Romanians to speak English. And the Bulgarians to speak English. Heck I even tell the British folks to speak English but that's just for fun.

If people are speaking a foreign language then...great! I'm all for it. If a Czech speaks Czech with a non-native Czech speaker then someone is developing their foreign language skills. Awesome! If two native Spanish speakers speak Spanish then...problem. If a native Spanish speaker speaks Spanish with a native Slovak speaker then...no problem.

With such a diverse team it's a fantastic opportunity to improve, or maintain, a foreign language. My rule is that if you're not speaking a foreign language then you need to speak English. Especially if English is the foreign language.

While I did get a chuckle out of the "Uncle Sam" flyer, my favorite was of my assistant, Jakob, as a Star Wars Jedi using the force to improve his language skills.